Synthesis of heterocycles based on azomethine ylides from α-amino acids (or amines) and carbonyl compounds

• Ekaterina V. Berezhnaya,
• Alexander I. Ponyaev,
• Vitali M. Boitsov and
• Alexander V. Stepakov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 705–741, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.55

• -oxindoles were developed. The first example of a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction involving azomethine ylides generated in situ from isatin and aminomalonic ester and unsaturated carboxylic acids catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acid (L21) was reported in [95] (Scheme 46). The method provides a unique

• successfully implemented the catalytic asymmetric 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of alkynes to azomethine ylides derived from isatin and diethyl 2-aminomalonate in the presence of BINOL-based chiral phosphoric acid L23, affording synthetically and pharmaceutically important spiro[indoline-3,2'-pyrroles] in high

Recent advances in the stereoselective synthesis of distal biaxially chiral molecules

• Fanxing Zhou,
• Chen Zhang,
• Lingyu Sun,
• Yiyun Fang,
• Siming Zheng,
• Lina Hu,
• Mengyang Shen,
• Zhen Zhao,
• Wei Xu,
• Yunqiang Sun and
• Zi-Qiang Rong

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 461–479, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.34

• studies have further broadened the synthetic toolbox for remote biaxial chirality. Du and co-workers designed a series of chiral phosphoric acid catalysts derived from protected axially chiral diols 13, employing a boronic acid-mediated coupling strategy to construct remote biaxially chiral phosphoric

• first enantioselective C–H amination of arenes catalyzed by a chiral phosphoric acid. Thus, this nucleophilic aromatic substitution reaction not only enables the synthesis of compounds bearing two chiral N-aryl axes but also provides a viable alternative to metal-catalyzed C–N cross-coupling reactions

• biaryl compounds. Highly enantioselective C–H arylation of heteroarenes. Synthesis of novel axially chiral N-arylcarbazole skeletons by the assembly of azidonaphthalenes and carbazoles through chiral phosphoric acid catalysis. Catalytic enantioselective synthesis of axially chiral polycyclic aromatic

Total synthesis of natural products based on hydrogenation of aromatic rings

• Haoxiang Wu and
• Xiangbing Qi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 88–122, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.4

• range, the reaction was scaled up to the gram scale with high yield and high enantioselectivity. Recently, Du and co-workers reported a transition-metal-free asymmetric transfer hydrogenation reaction (Scheme 6) [58]. Under a hydrogen atmosphere, using chiral phosphoric acid and achiral borane as

• synthesized the bicyclic intermediate 179 in four steps with an overall yield of 31%. Initially, they attempted a formal [4 + 2] cycloaddition between 179 and a 1,3-dicarbonyl compound, catalyzed by the chiral phosphoric acid (R)-TRIP, aiming to construct (−)-finerenone in a single step. However, this

Catalytic enantioselective synthesis of selenium-containing atropisomers via C–Se bond formations

• Qi-Sen Gao,
• Zheng-Wei Wei and
• Zhi-Min Chen

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2447–2455, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.186

• (Scheme 4). In 2025, Yang, Lu, and co-workers employed bifunctional catalysts, including chiral thiourea derivatives or chiral phosphoric acid, to activate alkynes and selenols through multiple hydrogen-bonding interactions, thereby achieving an enantioselective hydroselenation of alkynes [22]. All

Enantioselective radical chemistry: a bright future ahead

• Anna C. Renner,
• Sagar S. Thorat,
• Hariharaputhiran Subramanian and
• Mukund P. Sibi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 2283–2296, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.174

• phosphoric acid catalytic system [31]. Aminoalkenes react with Togni’s reagent in the presence of a catalytic amount of CuCl and a chiral phosphoric acid to yield pyrrolidines. Using this methodology, chiral α-quaternary substituted pyrrolidines were synthesized in good yields and excellent

• , a chiral Cu(III) complex forms from an achiral benzylic radical and a Cu(II)–CN species, and subsequent reductive elimination affords the enantioenriched benzylic nitrile product. Recently, X.-Y. Liu and co-workers reported an enantioselective aminofluoroalkylation of alkenes using a Cu(I)/chiral

Chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed asymmetric synthesis of helically chiral, planarly chiral and inherently chiral molecules

• Wei Liu and
• Xiaoyu Yang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1864–1889, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.145

• with the more recently introduced inherent chirality. As one of the most prominent chiral organocatalysts, chiral phosphoric acid (CPA) catalysis has proven highly effective in synthesizing centrally and axially chiral molecules. However, its potential in the asymmetric construction of other types of

• within this domain. Keywords: asymmetric catalysis; chiral phosphoric acid; helical chirality; inherent chirality; planar chirality; Introduction Since the seminal works by Akiyama [1] and Terada [2] et al. in 2004 demonstrated the application of BINOL-derived chiral phosphoric acids (CPAs) in

Catalytic asymmetric reactions of isocyanides for constructing non-central chirality

• Jia-Yu Liao

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1648–1660, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.129

• ] involving 6-aryl-2-aminopyridines 27, aldehydes, and isocyanides (Scheme 5a) [35]. By employing chiral phosphoric acid (CPA) C1 as the catalyst, this reaction worked well to afford axially chiral imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines 28 in high-to-excellent yields (up to 99%) and enantioselectivities (up to >99% ee). It

Advances in nitrogen-containing helicenes: synthesis, chiroptical properties, and optoelectronic applications

• Meng Qiu,
• Jing Du,
• Nai-Te Yao,
• Xin-Yue Wang and
• Han-Yuan Gong

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 1422–1453, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.106

• , enantioselective synthetic approach toward azahelicenes via a chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed multicomponent Povarov reaction or oxidative aromatization [32]. Among the synthesized compounds, compound 19 displayed dual absorption bands at 260 and 325 nm and emission peaks at 420 and 440 nm, which red-shifted to

Recent advances in controllable/divergent synthesis

• Jilei Cao,
• Leiyang Bai and
• Xuefeng Jiang

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 890–914, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.73

• via a proton transfer promoted by diisopropylethylamine. In 2023, the Jiang research group achieved a chemically divergent photocatalytic asymmetric synthesis using a dual catalytic system consisting of a chiral phosphoric acid and dicyanopyrazine (DPZ) as the photosensitizer (Scheme 20) [49]. By

Development and mechanistic studies of calcium–BINOL phosphate-catalyzed hydrocyanation of hydrazones

• Carola Tortora,
• Christian A. Fischer,
• Sascha Kohlbauer,
• Alexandru Zamfir,
• Gerd M. Ballmann,
• Jürgen Pahl,
• Sjoerd Harder and
• Svetlana B. Tsogoeva

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 755–765, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.59

• applications of calcium complexes with axially chiral BINOL phosphate ligands have been reported in recent years [28][32][33][34][35][36][37][38], as well as complexes with other chiral phosphoric acid ligands [39]. Since then, other main group metal complexes with BINOL phosphate ligands have been discovered

Copper-catalyzed domino cyclization of anilines and cyclobutanone oxime: a scalable and versatile route to spirotetrahydroquinoline derivatives

• Qingqing Jiang,
• Xinyi Lei,
• Pan Gao and
• Yu Yuan

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 749–754, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.58

• remains a formidable challenge, primarily due to the inherent ring strain and the difficulties associated with achieving high diastereoselectivity during cyclization [4]. Recently, Chen and co-workers developed a chiral phosphoric acid (CPA)-catalyzed multicomponent reaction of anilines, aldehydes, and

Recent advances in organocatalytic atroposelective reactions

• Henrich Szabados and
• Radovan Šebesta

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2025, 21, 55–121, doi:10.3762/bjoc.21.6

• enantioselectivities. Compound 66d was incorporated into a thiourea organocatalyst framework and successfully tested in kinetic resolution with 73% enantioselectivity. The chiral phosphoric acid (CPA) (R)-C22 was used to catalyze the formation of a C–N chiral axis in the axially chiral product 68 from biarylamines 67

• heteroannulation [50]. The SPINOL-derived chiral phosphoric acid C26 catalyzed the formation of axially chiral products 81 from diarylketones 79a–f and ketoesters 80a–c (Scheme 26). The substrate scope contained a broad range of substituents, including electron-donor groups and whole benzene rings. The authors

• biaryl ketones 84 with cyclohexanones 85 mediated by the second-generation chiral phosphoric acid C26 led to the formation of tetrahydroacridines 86 (Scheme 28) [52]. This Friedländer reaction provided products 86 in moderate to good yields with consistently high enantiomeric purities and high

Non-covalent organocatalyzed enantioselective cyclization reactions of α,β-unsaturated imines

• Sergio Torres-Oya and
• Mercedes Zurro

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 3221–3255, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.268

• the squaramide moiety and a nucleophile through deprotonation as Brønsted base. On the other hand, a chiral phosphoric acid provides a confined chiral environment where the reactants are approached, activating both the azadiene by interaction with the acidic hydrogen and a dienophile bearing a

• imines catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acids will be described. In 2013, Masson and co-workers reported the enantioselective inverse electron demand aza-Diels–Alder reaction (IEDADA) of 1-azadienes 44 with enecarbamates 45 catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acid XIV [40]. Although other works involving a

• excellent enantioselectivities (70–95% ee) when using chiral phosphoric acid XIV (Scheme 16). Mechanistic studies were performed to unveil whether a concerted or stepwise mechanism is taking place, such as trying to trap a possible iminium ion intermediate. The outcome of those experiments pointed towards a

Asymmetric organocatalytic synthesis of chiral homoallylic amines

• Nikolay S. Kondratyev and
• Andrei V. Malkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2349–2377, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.201

• conceptually different methodology was reported by Rueping and co-workers [41] that was based on the aza-Cope rearrangement of in situ-formed N-α,α’-diphenyl-(α’’-allyl)methyliminium cations catalysed by the BINOL-derived chiral phosphoric acid 112 (Scheme 23). The amine 113 acting as the allyl donor source

• ]-rearrangement of ene-aldimines 149, catalysed by the BINOL-derived chiral phosphoric acid (CPA) (R)-151 (Scheme 31) [46]. DFT computational analysis suggested that the reaction proceeds via a complex cascade that involves the fragmentation of ene-aldimine 149 to form an imine methylene cation, which in turn

• situ-generated N-acylquinolinium ions, catalysed by a tetrakis-triazole HBD catalyst [40]. Chiral phosphoric acid-catalysed aza-Cope rearrangement of in situ-formed N-α,α’-diphenyl-(α’’-allyl)methyliminium cations reported by Rueping et al. 2008 [41]. Tandem (R)-VANOL-triborate-catalysed asymmetric aza

Catalysing (organo-)catalysis: Trends in the application of machine learning to enantioselective organocatalysis

• Stefan P. Schmid,
• Leon Schlosser,
• Frank Glorius and
• Kjell Jorner

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 2280–2304, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.196

• [96] investigated a bromocyclization catalysed by a chiral phosphoric acid (CPA) and a DABCOnium brominating reagent (Figure 6). The authors calculated transition state conformer ensembles for several flexible DABCOnium systems and performed energy decomposition analysis to separate the interactions

Chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed transfer hydrogenation of 3,3-difluoro-3H-indoles

• Yumei Wang,
• Guangzhu Wang,
• Yanping Zhu and
• Kaiwu Dong

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2024, 20, 205–211, doi:10.3762/bjoc.20.20

• synthesis of optically active difluoro-substituted indoline derivatives starting from the corresponding 3H-indoles by chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed transfer hydrogenation was developed. Using Hantzsch ester as the hydrogen source under mild reaction conditions, the target products can be obtained with

• (1a) as the model substrate, Hantzsch ester (HE-Et) as the hydrogen source, and BINOL-derived chiral phosphoric acids (CPA) as the catalyst (Table 1). With chiral phosphoric acid CPA-1, the transfer hydrogenation reaction proceeded well in PhCF3 at room temperature and the target product 2a was

• steric hinderance of Hantzsch ester raised (Table 2, entries 1–3) and switching from ethyl to tert-butyl esters the desired product was obtained in excellent yield and enantioselectivity (Table 2, entry 3). Subsequently, we investigated the effect of the amounts of HE-t-Bu and chiral phosphoric acid on

Aromatic C–H bond functionalization through organocatalyzed asymmetric intermolecular aza-Friedel–Crafts reaction: a recent update

• Anup Biswas

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 956–981, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.72

• 2004. In this methodology, a 1,1’-bi-2-naphthol (BINOL)-derived chiral phosphoric acid P1 was used as the catalytic reagent to couple 2-methoxyfuran (1) and N-Boc-protected aldimines 2 to incorporate an aza-tertiary stereocenter into the 2’ position of the heteroaromatic products 3 (Scheme 1) [24

• aza-Friedel–Crafts process between indoles 4 and cyclic N-sulfonyl ketimines 5. The authors employed the BINOL-based chiral phosphoric acid P2 bearing two imidazoline moieties at the ortho-positions as the catalyst which activates both reactants through H-bonding where the NH group of the nucleophile

• than with indoles (Scheme 3) [26]. In 2018, Kim and co-workers developed an aza-Friedel–Crafts protocol involving pyrroles 9 as the π-nucleophile in combination with cyclic N-sulfimines 12. The chiral phosphoric acid P4 was used to catalyze the introduction of a pyrrole-substituted aza-quaternary

Recent advances in the asymmetric phosphoric acid-catalyzed synthesis of axially chiral compounds

• Alemayehu Gashaw Woldegiorgis and
• Xufeng Lin

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2729–2764, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.185

• active compounds in medicinal chemistry and as chiral ligands in asymmetric catalysis. Chiral phosphoric acids are recognized as efficient organocatalysts for a variety of enantioselective transformations. In this review, we summarize the recent development of chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed synthesis

• of a wide range of axially chiral biaryls, heterobiaryls, vinylarenes, N-arylamines, spiranes, and allenes with high efficiency and excellent stereoselectivity. Keywords: allenes; atropisomerism; axial chirality; chiral phosphoric acid; heterobiaryls; spiranes; Introduction Axial chirality is one

• will present pioneering examples of chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed asymmetric syntheses of axially chiral biaryls. In 2013, Kürti and co-workers reported a chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed aryl–aryl-bond formation process for the regio- and atroposelective synthesis of 2,2′-diamino-1,1

Recent advances in organocatalytic asymmetric aza-Michael reactions of amines and amides

• Pratibha Sharma,
• Raakhi Gupta and
• Raj K. Bansal

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 2585–2610, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.173

• acids have been shown to catalyze the reactions via single or double hydrogen bonding [57][58]. Saito et al. accomplished the chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed intramolecular aza-Michael addition reaction of N-unprotected 2-aminophenyl vinyl ketones 90 to obtain chiral 2-substituted 2,3-dihydro-4

• bifunctional thiourea. Intramolecular aza-Michael addition reaction catalyzed by tertiary amine-thiourea. Intramolecular aza-Michael addition reaction catalyzed by chiral phosphoric acid. Asymmetric aza-Michael addition of aniline to β-nitrostyrenes. Intramolecular aza-Michael addition reaction catalyzed by

Prins cyclization-mediated stereoselective synthesis of tetrahydropyrans and dihydropyrans: an inspection of twenty years

• Asha Budakoti,
• Pradip Kumar Mondal,
• Prachi Verma and
• Jagadish Khamrai

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 932–963, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.77

• -Lewis-acid-promoted asymmetric Prins cyclization strategy. List and co-workers’ iIDP Brønsted acid-promoted asymmetric Prins cyclization strategy. Zhou and co-workers’ strategy for chiral phosphoric acid (CPA)-catalyzed cascade Prins cyclization. List and co-workers’ approach for asymmetric Prins

Chiral isothiourea-catalyzed kinetic resolution of 4-hydroxy[2.2]paracyclophane

• David Weinzierl and
• Mario Waser

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 800–804, doi:10.3762/bjoc.17.68

• of rac-PHANOL (4,12-dihydroxy[2.2]paracyclophane) by means of a chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed esterification with achiral anhydrides [28]. This method allowed for high s-factors but was unfortunately not satisfyingly applicable to rac-4-hydroxy[2.2]paracyclophane (rac-2) [28]. Considering the

Recent developments in enantioselective photocatalysis

• Callum Prentice,
• James Morrisson,
• Andrew D. Smith and
• Eli Zysman-Colman

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 2363–2441, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.197

• -covalent catalysis with photoredox catalysis was reported by Rono and Knowles in 2013 (Scheme 15) [57]. They showed that using a chiral phosphoric acid (CPA), a photoredox catalyst and Hantzsch ester (HEH) as a HAT reagent, a concerted proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) process is promoted to form

Controlling the stereochemistry in 2-oxo-aldehyde-derived Ugi adducts through the cinchona alkaloid-promoted electrophilic fluorination

• Yuqing Wang,
• Gaigai Wang,
• Anatoly A. Peshkov,
• Ruwei Yao,
• Muhammad Hasan,
• Manzoor Zaman,
• Chao Liu,
• Stepan Kashtanov,
• Olga P. Pereshivko and
• Vsevolod A. Peshkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1963–1973, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.163

• stereocontrol was achieved with the aid of different Lewis acid promoters bearing chiral ligands, while the most recent and at the same time the most general procedure developed by Liu, Tan and co-workers relied on the stereoinduction by a chiral phosphoric acid (Table 1) [40]. In the standard Ugi four

• been elaborated allowing the engagement of different classes of substrates (Table 2). In addition, the group of Tan adapted their findings to the chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed three-component Ugi reaction of an aldehyde 2, an isocyanide 3, and a primary amine 5 [58]. As a part of our ongoing

Stereoselective Biginelli-like reaction catalyzed by a chiral phosphoric acid bearing two hydroxy groups

• Xiaoyun Hu,
• Jianxin Guo,
• Cui Wang,
• Rui Zhang and
• Victor Borovkov

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1875–1880, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.155

• To develop new efficient stereoselective catalysts for Biginelli-like reactions, a chiral phosphoric acid bearing two hydroxy groups derived from ʟ-tartaric acid was successfully synthesized via highly regioselective transformations of enantiopure 1,1,4,4-tetraphenylbutanetetraol. The obtained

• -tetraphenylbutanetetraol; chiral phosphoric acid; Introduction Dihydropyrimidinethiones (DHPMs) are an important class of heterocyclic compounds featuring in a large number of natural and artificial compounds possessing various biological activities, and serving as key intermediates for the synthesis of medical drugs [1

• compound making its application highly attractive from the viewpoint of sustainability and green chemistry. Recently, our group reported an asymmetric Biginelli reaction catalyzed by a new chiral phosphoric acid derived from natural tartaric acid, that yielded a high enantioselectivity (up to 99% ee) [17

Asymmetric synthesis of CF₂-functionalized aziridines by combined strong Brønsted acid catalysis

• Xing-Fa Tan,
• Fa-Guang Zhang and
• Jun-An Ma

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 638–644, doi:10.3762/bjoc.16.60

• phosphoric acid (Scheme 1a) [26]. In comparison, there is a significant dearth of available synthetic approaches to CF2-functionalized aziridines, particularly in a stereocontrolled manner. Indeed, a handful of reported methods document the employment of difluoromethylimines, difluoromethyl phenyl sulfone

• precursors [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. However, catalytic asymmetric approaches to chiral CF3-functionalized aziridines have only been reported by Cahard in 2012, who utilized trifluorodiazoethane (CF3CHN2) as the nucleophile to react with aldimines catalyzed by chiral